1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stereoscopic image display apparatus. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a stereoscopic image display apparatus of a lenticular type.
2. Discussion of the Background
Stereoscopic image display apparatuses for displaying a three-dimensional (3-D) stereoscopic image have been developed according to an increase in demand for 3-D stereoscopic images in the fields of games, movies, etc. To display the 3-D stereoscopic image, the stereoscopic image display apparatus may display two-dimensional (2-D) flat images that are different from each other to a viewer's eyes. A viewer may view a pair of 2-D flat images with one image being displayed to each eye, and then the brain merges the pair of 2-D flat images for the viewer to view the stereoscopic image.
Stereoscopic image display apparatuses may be classified as either a stereoscopic type or an autostereoscopic type, according to whether or not the viewer is required to wear glasses for viewing the stereoscopic image. Generally, an autostereoscopic image display apparatus, such as a barrier type, a lenticular type, etc., does not require viewing glasses, and is generally used in a flat panel display apparatus.
In the barrier type autostereoscopic image display apparatus, light emitted from a left pixel and a right pixel is blocked or transmitted using a parallax barrier to control a viewing angle, so that a viewer's left eye views the left pixel and a viewer's right eye views the right pixel. Thus, a stereoscopic image may be displayed. In the lenticular type autostereoscopic image display apparatus, the light emitted from the left pixel and the right pixel is refracted using a lens to control a viewing angle, so that the stereoscopic image may be displayed.
In the barrier type, since the light is partially blocked, the luminance may be decreased by about 50%1 thereby deteriorating the display quality. However, in the lenticular type, most of the light passes through the lens, so that decreased luminance may be minimized compared to the barrier type.
In the lenticular type, the lens includes a vertical lens and a slanted lens according to the location relationship of a lens axis with respect to a display panel. The lens axis of the vertical lens is perpendicular to the display panel, and thus the vertical lens may be easily mass-produced and the stereoscopic image display apparatus may be easily manufactured. However, the luminance of the display panel having the vertical lens may not be uniform throughout the entire display panel, so that the display quality may be deteriorated.
The luminance of the display panel having the slanted lens may be greater than that of the display panel using the vertical lens. However, the manufacturing process of the slanted lens may require high reliability since the lens axis of the slanted lens must be slanted with respect to the display panel. In particular, when a multi-viewpoint stereoscopic image is displayed on the display panel using the slanted lens, crosstalk may be generated between adjacent viewpoints, thereby deteriorating the display quality.